Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong objection to this motion. This should be a very easy vote for all of us; we should all vote no. They already have $35 billion of our money. They want $18 billion more. That is $53 billion.

Think about it. Some of you would like to spend that on the military, on national defense. That would not be too bad an idea. Others might want to spend it on domestic welfare programs. This would be a better idea than bailing out rich bankers and foreign governments. Besides, there are some of us who would like to give the $53 billion back to the American people and lower their taxes. But to give them another $18 billion does not make any sense.

Then to come to us and say it will not cost the taxpayers any money is absurd. Why do they come here and try to sneak through this appropriation with a parliamentary trick, if it is not going to cost the taxpayers any money? Certainly it is going to cost the taxpayers money. It adds to the national debt, and we have to pay interest on the national debt. This is a cost.

Now, the Director of the IMF had an interesting proposal. He said this will not cost us anything because it is coming out of the Central Bank.